ANNUAL REPORT 2007 | 2008 - Gimv

STRATEGY
Gimv is an independent, listed investment company which
operates in private equity and venture capital, mainly on the
European market.
Gimv’s ambition is to create added value by investing in promising
small to medium-sized companies and to actively accompany
and support these companies as a professional and
experienced partner in their growth, expansion, operational
improvement and fi nancial optimization. Gimv can take shareholdings
in companies with enterprise values of up to around
EUR 125 million.
Gimv wants to fulfi l this ambition in two core activities:
Gimv’s local buy-out teams are concentrating on companies in
more traditional sectors in Belgium, the Netherlands, France
and Germany. In Belgium Gimv also provides growth capital to
companies wanting to speed up their growth.
In the venture capital fi eld, Gimv provides venture capital to
starters from a focus on sector specialization, investing in companies
in ICT, life sciences and cleantech, at every phase of
development.
Whilst retaining its strong position in its key markets, Gimv wants
to grow and expand in a private equity market characterized by
ever increasing internationalization, competition and specialization.
This was one reason for Gimv’s opening its own offi ce
in France. For investments in the Russian market, Gimv has
entered into a joint venture with KBC Private Equity. In terms
of sectors, Gimv has extended its venture capital activities to
include cleantech and launched the DG Infra+ infrastructure
fund in partnership with Dexia.
Gimv invests to a large extent with its own balance sheet assets.
Gimv’s strong cash position permits strong growth in the coming
years, in both its original and in new activities. The extensive
experience and high degree of specialization and professionalism
of Gimv employees, combined with a continuing thrust
towards innovation and exploring new opportunities, form a
strong basis for further ambitious growth.
Gimv manages as an active partner an extensive portfolio of
geographically and sectorally diversifi ed private equity investments.
The capital gains that Gimv is able to realize benefi t all
its investors through the company’s consistent dividend policy
and its equity growth.
In its 27 years of existence, Gimv has achieved an average annual
return of over 13 percent. This impressive performance
makes Gimv one of the 25 percent best players in its market.
Gimv’s target for the future remains a minimum return of
13 percent.
The presence of the Vlaamse Participatiemaatschappij as a reference
shareholder (27 percent) guarantees Gimv’s continued
independence and its long-term strategy.
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